YouTube to launch music service amid indie dispute

5:45 PM,
Jun. 17, 2014

Written by

Ryan Nakashima
Asociated Press

YouTube will launch a new subscription music service, the company acknowledged Tuesday after being dragged into a public dispute over royalties that will result in the blockade of some independent artists' music videos.

The Google Inc.-owned video site said in a statement that it is "adding subscription-based features for music on YouTube" and that "hundreds of major label and independent artists" have signed on.

The paid service - to be launched within a few months - will likely allow playback of videos without ads and allow for offline playback on mobile devices. That's according to two ...